


Fenris and Frost

by destielwithashotgun



Category: The Gifted (TV 2017)
Genre: F/M, Hurt Andy
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-01-12
Updated: 2018-01-24
Packaged: 2019-03-03 17:17:07
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings, No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 2
Words: 4,663
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/13345842
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/destielwithashotgun/pseuds/destielwithashotgun
Summary: He was supposedly easy to break, an outsider who never did things the way he was supposed to. Esme was supposed to find a way into the Underground, and this was the easiest. It was far from hard. Seduce the Strucker boy until he could get her the information she needed. It was never meant to go farther than that. But Andy is hurt and Esme realizes that she likes him as more than just somebody on the inside.





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> Disclaimer: I do not own The Gifted, those rights go to Marvel. 
> 
> Also, I don't ship these two but I had a user comment about it and it gave me an idea so I'm going to run with it. Thanks Laurenx!

William needed one of them to get in touch with somebody in the Underground. The obvious choice was her, right? She knew them better than the other two did, even if they shared everything with each other. She knew just who to target too. The takedown would be easy. She thought. 

Andy Strucker was a loner, that much was obvious. She knew his background, had peeked into his mind often enough to know that he felt ashamed of who he was whenever he was around his family, who he was always very different from. She saw him quiet, even when surrounded by mutants who yelled and laughed around him. He was sensitive, a loner who felt like he wasn't understood, common in teenagers everywhere. But in this case, his family really didn't seem to understand and that was good. Esme could work with that. All she had to do was pretend that she knew what he was going through, pretend to listen and he would be in the palm of her hand. It was so easy it was pathetic. She started by meeting him outside, where she knew he went every night to draw and get away from the stuffy inside of the building. 

She scared him the first time she showed up, silently leaning against a tree and watching him until she intentionally snapped a twig and scared him so he would notice her. He started, jerking back a bit on the car he was sitting on. "Why the hell are you here?" he snapped without a waver in his voice, but she could detect the poorly hidden anxiety that was creeping behind the words he was speaking. She smirked, then remembered that she was supposed to be befriending him, and then seducing him so she could get what the Hellfire Club needed. 

"I just came to say hi. I wanted to know what was going on here. It gets kind of boring where I stay, you know. From what I remembered, nothing was ever boring when I was here." his expression was guarded, but he wasn't running back into the Underground, so she took that as a good sign. Tentatively, she took a few slow steps until she was standing next to him, then hoisted herself onto the car next to him. He flinched away at first and scooted more toward the other side, but he didn't glare at her. Inside, she cheered. This was going to be easier than she thought. All she had to do was play the part and he would never know. Well, until she exposed him as a betrayer to the Underground. 

"You think coming here in the middle of the night is really going to be interesting? You were here long enough to know that nothing ever happens at night, sorry to disappoint you. You can leave now." His clipped tone almost made her laugh. He definitely suspected something was up. 

"Well, you're out here so I mean, you seem pretty interesting to me." This time he did glare at her, his eyes narrowing and he unconsciously moved to cover the sketch pad covering his lap. 

"I know how you and your creepy sisters work. Are they here somewhere too? You can't do anything to me if I know it's coming." She smiled at him, a teasing, coy grin that would hopefully make him more receptive to her words. It didn't work. 

"C'mon Andy. I didn't want to do that. But my sisters were in danger. I had to. You can relate, right? What if Lauren was taken without you? You would do anything to get her back, right?" He hesitated, but she could see the gears turning in his head. She lifted herself off the truck and turned back to him. Then she turned away. She had planted the idea in his brain, there wasn't much else she could do. 

She came back the next night. Andy looked at her with slight discomfort but he didn't say anything and she took that to mean they were at a slight truce. Once again, he was sitting cross-legged on the car, drawing patterns in the dust with his fingers as he erased part of his drawing on the sketchpad. He curled in a bit as she lifted herself up next to him. Willing to give him space, she sat far away from him and tried not to stare at whatever he was doing on the paper. 

"Anything interesting happen today?" his long suffering sigh told her he was still annoyed with her but his answer told her that he was ok giving her a chance, as long as she didn't overstep her bounds. She could do that. 

"We got a few new refugees today. One of them can move things with his mind. When we first got to him he almost knocked Marcos out when he didn't realize we were there to help him and flung a car in our direction." She couldn't hold in her snort. The look he shot her was wary, but amusement shown in his eyes and she realized he wasn't as mad at her as he made her think. He was right in the fact that she couldn't read her thoughts when he was expecting it. Hopefully they would become good enough friends that he felt safe enough to tell her what they were planning and everything. Other than that, she didn't really have any options. She filed away the information about the telekinetic because it might be useful to the Hellfire Club at a later date. Almost everything was. 

She didn't pry about anything important. Not at first. Instead, she came back every night until she knew Andy had begun to expect her presence next to him. One time she even got the courage to ask him what he was drawing. He looked at her with suspicion clear in his gaze, but hesitantly turned the sketch pad toward her. What was on it stole her breath. 

An incredibly detailed wolf took up most of the page, but where its heart would be two hands were clasped in front of it. The hands obviously belonged to Andy and his sister, because their bodies were there too, albeit a bit smaller than the wolf. Light was emanating from between their palms. The work was amazing, and Esme almost forgot to breathe for a second. She knew from reading Reed's mind a while ago that Andy and Lauren could harness the Fenris power. That piece of info was extremely important to the Hellfire Club, who in the beginning, had desperately wanted the Frost sisters to recruit the Strucker siblings. 

"Andy..." she let out softly, forgetting herself for a minute as she raised a hand to trace the wolfs head. Then she remembered what she was supposed to be doing and straightened up, clearing her throat. "It's very good." she said simply, trying not to betray how in awe she was of his talent. He stared at her, inquisitive eyes boring into hers and she knew that he knew. He knew how jealous she was, he had watched her reaction and seen how his drawing had stolen every thought from her head except "amazing". She almost blushed. Almost. But she was not supposed to let him know any real emotion she held and she let her gaze harden. 

It didn't fool him. A grin, the first genuine one she had seen, split his face and she realized he had a beautiful smile. She bit her lip, trying to push back the thoughts she knew she shouldn't be having. He was a mission, for God's sake. She wasn't supposed to get attached to the mission. She swung off the car. Without another word, she walked into the forest and disappeared. 

Her sisters knew. They knew everything. The next night, Sophie was sent instead of Esme. They figured he would never know the difference. William didn't realize she had gone in Esme's place. Andy wouldn't either. But he did. He noticed. And Sophie came storming back at midnight, fuming because she had barely said one word, barely been there a minute when Andy glared at her, said, "You're not Esme", and stormed back into the building. Needless, to say, Esme was forced to go the next night. He glanced up when she first exited the trees. His glare actually made her blood go cold for a minute, and she yelled at herself. She didn't care what Andy thought of her. She didn't care! 

"You're not Sophie, or Phoebe, or whatever clone came yesterday." she regarded him carefully, but she didn't come to sit next to him on the car again. Instead of letting her keep her distance, he leaped off and walked up until he was standing next to her, staring straight into her eyes. It was her turn to feel uncomfortable. They had been doing so well for the past few weeks, and she just had to go and ruin it by making things awkward. Or maybe Andy was making things awkward. She couldn't tell anymore. "Why'd you decide to blow me off yesterday, Esme? Did you really think I was stupid enough to fall for that?" 

"I don't think you're stupid" was out of her mouth before she realized she was saying it and she cursed herself. She usually had a much better brain to mouth filter than this. Something about Andy made her nervous. It wasn't the first time she had wondered if Andy was a telepath too. He seemed too perceptive to not be. 

He almost smirked. "I guess that's a good thing." His words were not sharp though, because they never were. He wasn't a mean person. He was a hurting person, and unknowingly Esme had begun to care. And that sucked. 

Andy walked back to the car without saying anything, and then looked up at her and raised his eyebrows. He was inviting her to sit next to him. Slowly, she moved toward him and he began talking to her without Esme needing to say anything. She startled when he said something about the Underground having a mission to steal files from a transport truck in a few days. He switched subjects quickly, but that bit of information stuck in her head. They could accomplish what they needed to knowing that. But for some reason, she didn't want to tell William about it. That would mean the mission was over, and she wasn't sure she wanted that. She actually enjoyed talking to Andy. God, she needed help. This was not the way things were supposed to work. But when she started walking away and he shot her a "goodnight Esme" she knew she wasn't going to tell William. 

Esme went back the next night. And the next. He was always waiting for her. And then he wasn't. For three nights, he wasn't there. Her worry spiked. Had they caught onto what the Hellfire Club was doing? (Or trying to do, because Esme wasn't really following the rules of the mission). Had something happened to Andy? Did he just decide that he didn't like hanging out with her anymore? She didn't know what to think when she realized that the last two were more important to her than the first. What the hell was wrong with her?

When Andy was sitting stiffly on the car the fourth night, she almost cried. Until she saw the bandage wrapped around his bicep. "God, Andy, what happened!" It was all for the act, she reminded herself. She wasn't supposed to care this much. He gave her a weak grin. 

"Took a bullet to the arm so it didn't hit Marcos when he was rescuing this nine year old girl on our last mission." She was completely speechless. "But," he continued without giving her time to process what he had just said. "I did get to draw a lot when I was in the infirmary. I made something really cool." He flipped through the pad and stopped on one of the last pages. She inhaled sharply when he turned the paper toward her. 

It was her. He had drawn her face perfectly, hair flowing around her as her eyes glowed. But she wasn't intimidating. She was smiling over her shoulder, hair flowing and flying around her face. "This is the way I see you." His voice was quiet. 

She didn't hesitate. She couldn't deny what she had been feeling for so long. She knew she had been in love with him for a long time. She hadn't wanted to admit it. Now though, she pressed her lips against his and kissed him softly, gently. She pulled away, scared that he was going to deny her. Instead, he pulled her against him again. 

"Took you long enough." he smiled against her lips and she felt laughter, real, fizzy laughter bubbling up from her stomach. Andy was the only one who had ever been able to make her laugh for real ever since she joined the Hellfire Club. 

"Shut up"" she muttered, kissing him again. Then she felt bad. She was in love with him. With this selfless, talented, sensitive boy. But he didn't know the truth. He didn't know the reason she had originally come to talk to him. It was eating her up inside. And she hated herself. She pulled away. 

"Andy, I am in love with you." he opened his mouth to reply but she held up a finger to stop him. "I didn't just come here because I was bored. And I am so, so sorry." he cut her off when he pulled her into a hug and she froze beneath him. When he pulled away he winced and Esme cursed herself for forgetting that he had been shot just a few days ago. She almost said something again, but this time he stopped her. 

"I know. I know, Esme. And I love you." She was speechless. He knew. He...knew. And he loved her. She loved him. They were in love. Her body relaxed and when she smiled, it didn't feel stiff like it had before. She kissed him again. And again. And again. 

They loved each other. Nothing else mattered.


	2. Struckers and Cuckoos

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> They were so going to kill her. And then maybe him. Andy and Esme, the two people who were never expected to get together because, well, in the Struckers eyes Esme was a psychopath. In the Frost's eyes, Andy was a weak annoyance. Things were bound to be complicated.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'm so sorry I haven't updated in so long! I have been unbelievably busy. Never fear, I'm back and I'm bearing gifts! The next chapter is here! Phillip, I have updated. Laurenx and SuperiorTennyson, thank you for continuing to comment. This one is for you guys. I actually started earlier today, but the archive crashed so I didn't get as much done as I could have. BTW, the events of the finale have not happened.

So, maybe they should have given the Struckers some time to ease into it. It was possible that barging in with one of the people the Underground hated working with and kissing them in front of your family was a bad idea. In their defense, they weren't really sure how to do it. They probably should have found another way. Too late now. Esme and Andy were standing hand in hand, Lauren had a hand over her mouth but was obviously glaring at the lone sister, and Reed and Caitlin were mostly just shocked. "Uh, so, we're dating?" 

It had been Andy's idea to tell everybody, starting with his parents and Lauren. They had been together for over two weeks, and they were getting tired of having to sneak around and meet with each other under the cover of darkness. That might still be the case, after the way most of the people in the Underground looked at Esme when they walked in. She wasn't one to get self conscious though, keeping her head up and refusing to let anything phase her. Andy admired that in his girlfriend. Right, because that was what they were now, thought the term best friend always came to their mind when they thought about their relationship. That wasn't a bad thing. They were happy that they considered each other their best friend. It meant they had a good relationship. With some kissing involved. 

"Lauren spoke first, evidently forgetting to sensor her words in her shock. "Andy, what the hell?!" She had finally taken the hand away from her mouth and now was standing there with fists clenched at her sides. 

"Lauren. Language." their mom reprimanded half heartedly. She didn't really seem to care whether Lauren heard her or not, eyes still trained on Andy's face like she was trying to read something written on his forehead. His dad was a bit different. 

His eyes would not leave their joined hands, even when he spoke. "Andy. Step away from her. She has you in one of her mind tricks. This isn't real Andy. Let go of her hand." He seemed angry. Well, Andy could play that game too. But before he got a chance to speak, Esme broke forward and let go of his hand. He furrowed his eyebrows. 

"Mr. Strucker, I can't do anything to him if he knows it's coming. I love your son. I don't care that you don't approve, or that my sisters probably won't either. I would like for you to understand though. I came too Andy because I needed an in to the Underground. And then he became much more than that. His place is here, but his place is also with me. I want you to know that. I want you to see this." Lauren didn't move. Caitlin blinked hard, and nodded. Reed regarded the two of them as Esme took her place next to Andy again, and then let his eyes linger on him. Andy took that as his cue. 

His speech wasn't as powerful as Esme's, but it was enough to let them know that she was right, and that he was not going to walk away from this. "Listen. Dad, Mom, Lauren. I love you. I wouldn't want to betray you. But-" he took a deep breath. "I love her too. So if I'm caught in the middle, I'm going to choose her. You have each other. She has nobody that will understand." His words obviously affected each of his family members, but they didn't stay to see the reactions, and the imminent explosion of questions and lectures. They walked away hand in hand and left the Strucker's to contemplate what was said. 

Sophie and Phoebe agreed to meet them (well, actually they didn't know Andy was coming, but whatever) outside of the Hellfire club, in the woods surrounding the Underground. Dangerous, yes, but efficient. Neither sister showed any emotion when Andy came into the clearing they were waiting in. Phoebe (he was pretty sure) examined him. "Did he let his guard down so you could use our powers?" It was unnerving, the way they spoke. Both said the first word, one of them said the rest of the sentence, and then the other said the last word. 

"No Phoebe." (Oh, so he was right.) "He, well, he knows why I was there." Maybe not the best way to start. Neither of them were doing very well in the whole sharing secrets thing today. Immediately, the sisters eyes flared blue. 

"And you want us to help take care of the damage? Oh, sister. You have messed up more than William will allow." This time they spoke in unison, which caused a shiver of discomfort racing up Andy's spine. He decided that since Esme had done her part of talking when they were telling his family, he should do his part and express his feelings to hers. Somehow she made it look so easy.

"She didn't mess up." All of the Frost's looked surprised, though Phoebe and Sophie kind of looked more threatening. "She knows what she is doing. She loves me. I love her. I don't call that a mistake, I call that something to be celebrated. And before you try, you won't be able to break us apart. No one will. We know what we are getting into. We know you probably won't agree, my parents won't agree, and my sister is probably mortified right now. But neither of us actually give a crap. We just thought we should tell you." He didn't have the way with words that Esme did, but they did have some affect. The two beckoned Esme to come closer and then all three of them spent minutes conversing. 

Esme, through some weird telepathic stuff, let him know what they were saying, most of which was them making sure it wasn't just an elaborate ruse to convince Andy Esme really loved him, which took a very long time. Finally, both of Esme's sisters sighed and said with their weird every other word thing, "Why him?" at this point, Esme blocked Andy out, though her sly smirk told him that it wasn't accidental. She wasn't going to let him know why she loved him. Alright, whatever. Two could play at that game. Finally, the party of three broke apart. 

"William isn't going to like this." Sophie said. Esme shrugged, and Andy stilled, trying to hear exactly what she was about to say. She hadn't told him her plan yet, which meant he was constantly on edge on that front. 

"I know. Which is why I won't be going back to William. I'm staying with Andy. But, you already knew that." Phoebe regarded her. Finally, she gave an exasperated groan, but it almost sounded playful, which was weird to hear from her. 

"You're really serious about this, aren't you?" Esme grinned. It was the first time her sister had spoken without finishing their other triplets sentence. It showed, though it may be invisible to Andy, that Phoebe was going to stand by Esme, even if Sophie disagreed. 

"Yeah. I am. But I know you aren't going to stay wherever I am. If I do somehow manage to end up at the Underground, you won't want to be there. Do well at the Hellfire club, come visit wherever we are as much as possible. You'll know how to find us." The three sisters embraced, and then the other two, eyeing Andy oddly waited at a respectful distance when Esme came to talk to him. "That went pretty well I think. I have to leave with them, but I'll be back tonight and we can figure everything out." with a quick kiss to the cheek, she was gone, leaving Andy to walk back home (when did he start thinking of the Underground as home) alone. 

Nobody saw him come in, but Lauren was the one to find him first in what passed for the library later. Silently, she sat down next to him and Andy put down the book he was reading, fully prepared for an argument or a lecture. What he got was his sister leaning her head on his shoulder and asking "You really love her?" 

He didn't have to think before he answered. "Yes." It was the truth. He was alone before, alone in his family, alone in a building filled with people who were in the same position as he was. But Esme was his company. He wasn't alone anymore, not when he was with her. 

She nodded against him. "I'll tell mom and dad. Dad might need some convincing but mom, she understands." He stayed silent, but he made no move to push her off of him. "You know I love you, right?" Now he grinned, just a little bit. 

"Of course. I love you too Lauren. And I love mom and dad. And I love Esme." She smiled against his neck, and then stood up, reaching out a hand and pulling him to his feet as well. 

"Help me with distribution?" he smiled back. "Of course." 

His parents did not talk to him about Esme. They did not say they were ok with it or they weren't, but they did call Marcos over and talk to him about another joining them in their room, which was already crowded. That's when he knew he was ok. 

His next confrontation was at night. Instead of Esme breaking through the trees, it was Phoebe and Sophie. He couldn't say he wasn't expecting it, though he did wonder where his girlfriend was. "You love her." This was not a question. It was stated with absolute certainty. He nodded, getting off the car. The sisters nodded as well, but they took a synchronized step toward him and he did his best not to back away. "She loves you too. So you better not hurt her. If you break her heart, you're going to have a lot more things broken than she is." By this time, they had grabbed his shirt collar and were pressing him up against the rusty door of the automobile. 

He looked at them defiantly. "You can't scare me away from giving her my heart, and you can't tell me anything about breaking hers that I don't already know. She is my girlfriend. She can break my heart as many times as she want's and it will still be hers, but I will never break the one beating in her chest." Apparently he said the right thing. The two backed off. 

"I think he's had enough interrogation guys." Esme stepped out from behind the tree line with a satisfied smirk on her face that told Andy she had been listening the entire time. 

"Not fair." he grumbled. "I didn't get to listen to you guys." Somehow, Phoebe and Sophie had already disappeared. Esme smiled at him, the genuine one that had told Andy weeks ago that he was falling for her. 

"Your heart is mine?" she questioned. Andy slapped at her hand where it was curling around his arm, but he couldn't help laughing a little bit as well and grinned at the woman he loved. 

"Always."

...............................................

 

Esme's confrontation came later, when Andy was busy and Esme had already moved into the Underground, which was not without complications for both her and Andy. She found herself cornered by three, protective Struckers and sighed mentally, preparing herself for whatever they were going to say. 

"If you're still here for the reason you were when you started this, I swear Frost you won't have a chance too-" what ever he was about to say was cut off by Caitlin's hand on his arm and her soft voice saying his name. 

"We just want to make sure you won't hurt our son. Not in the way he's been hurt before, and not in any other way. I want to believe you are good, so please, find a way to make me trust you. We want him to be happy." Somehow, the way she spoke and the things she said made Esme smile and she gently explained. 

"I love Andy. You know this. I won't hurt him, I promise. I swear I would pinky promise if it would do me any good. He completes everything I was missing before, Mrs. Strucker. He could tell me he was faking this entire time and I would still be in love with your son." She borrowed a few ideas from Andy when he was talking to her sisters the other night, but they had been effective then and they were now. Lauren, who had been standing there with her arms crossed the entire time, grinned gently at her and held up a hand. 

At first, Esme was confused but when she saw what Lauren was doing she laughed and held her hand up in a mirror image, her pinky sticking out. "Pinky promise." They linked fingers. The Struckers walked away, and Andy came out of hiding. Esme gasped in mock offense before laughing again, suddenly in a good mood. "Figured you were watching. What did you think?" 

Andy beamed. "I think I love you just a little bit more. I knew they were going to question you. I had Skyler do my job for me so I could watch. I was not disappointed, especially when you and my sister made a pinky promise like little kids." 

Esme groaned. "Shut it. I did better than you. My sisters barely excepted you as my boyfriend. You're lucky you passed because they can be vicious when they want to be." 

"Your sisters loved me!"   
"Sure they did."  
"I hate you so much."  
You love me."   
*Sigh.   
"Yeah. Yeah I do."

End


End file.
